Serum
by sashwizzled
Summary: Team Rocket have created a new weapon in their fight for ultimate power; a formula that gives the person who takes it the power of a Pokemon. At the same time, Jessie and James have done the impossible - what's the soon-to-be Pokemon Master to do?
1. Discovery:

_11.5.02_

Hi people! This is chapter one of my saga, Serum – I started this puppy a while ago (It'll be even longer by the time I publish this, as I'm only on to planning Part 2, I'm starting to **work** on Part 1 in May, and I'm not publishing till the planning's done – plus the fic should be quite a few chapters… Plus, the Internet's buggered now, so I can't even go **on** it!)

Disclaimer:~ I don't own Pokemon, even though I **would** love to… It'd be cool – and if **I** were running the show, Pokemon would be back to at least 6 episodes a day on Sky One (Remember the good ol' days, Brits?)…

But I might be getting Cable once NTL pull their fingers out and move into my county with their new Cable deal… Or I could move 20 Miles away cos they're already there! I'll miss Sky TV… Who am **I** kidding?! I won't miss it for a day! A new episode of all my fave shows as they come out!! I'll be able to watch Ranma ½, Love Hina, InuYasha and all the other great anime I wanna watch!! WWEEEHHEEEEYYY!!! J

Ok, now my rant's over… On with it… ^_^;

:~Evil-Zarrah~: Presents

Serum

Giovanni marched down the long, dark, quiet corridor. He smirked to see that all the Rocket Grunts who passed him pressed themselves into walls until he was passed them. He arrived at a large, silver automatic door, which was about the only thing that wasn't black in the corridor, making it stand out. He marched through the door, into the Team Rocket Laboratory. A man in a doctor's jacket sat at a computer terminal; taking readings from a glass vial full of a dark, pink liquid. As Giovanni watched, he turned off the computer and put the vial on a shelf, along with eleven others of different colours.

"What are those?!" Giovanni snapped

"Oh! Mr Giovanni! I didn't expect you! These," The doctor marched to the shelf and grabbed three bottles, "Are the greatest discoveries ever known to man!"

Giovanni waved his hand, "So…? What do they do?"

"Well," The scientist searched for words, glancing around the large room, nervously, "Well, as you know, Pokemon stolen from a trainer are very hard to control – often there's no point in keeping it because it just won't **do** anything! Well, you never have any problem training new recruits do you? That's because humans are very easy to control! So, what if you could give a Pokemon's powers to a human? You'd have a very powerful creature that'll do your every bidding!"

Giovanni felt a smile crawl across his features, not quite getting to his eyes. He raised the bottle to his face to examine it more closely. The green colour of the liquid reflected from his face as the light hit it.

"You are going to make me rich…" He spoke so softly the scientist couldn't hear exactly what he said, but only caught the word 'rich'. Maybe that meant he'd get a promotion…

'I can dream…' The man thought.

:~~~~~~~:

Brock tossed some spices into his (in) famous Lazy-Boy-No-Chew-Stew. He glanced to the other side of the clearing he sat in. Ash sat on his sleeping bag, looking through his Pokedex. There was a strange expression on his face, Brock couldn't decide if it was guilt, anger, sadness, or all three.

Misty wasn't there. She was at the nearby lake with her Pokemon. Last he'd seen of her, the five of them had been playing Tag in the water. Well, Psyduck mostly floated along, and Togepi mostly rode along on Psyduck's stomach, but anyway…

:~~~~~~~~~~:

FLASHBACK

:~~~~~~~~~~:

_"Staryu, Go!"_

_"Chikorita, I choose you!"_

_The last round of a three on three Pokemon battle, Ash versus Misty, was about to begin. Ash had fallen into the old trap of Togepi versus Pikachu again, while Noctowl had knocked out Misty's Goldeen._

_The pair Tackled each other for a few seconds, before Staryu led off a Tri Attack, a move Misty had recently taught it without Ash knowing. The Fire in the Tri Attack damaged Chikorita, but she refused to back down, throwing a Razor Leaf at it. Staryu dodged easily, firing an Ice Beam, which missed._

_Ash laughed slightly, "That the best you got?"_

_Misty only smirked._

_Staryu continued the Ice Beam, still not connecting to its target. Chikorita continued to dodge, until finally both her and Ash realised that Misty had caged Chikorita in with the build up of frozen water. Now it only had one way to go. Toward Staryu._

_"Staryu, finish it! Double Edge!" Misty yelled._

_Staryu spun itself round, faster and faster, until nobody could follow it anymore. It flew toward Chikorita, who had nowhere else to go now. All other escape routes had been cut off._

_"Razor Leaf the ice, try to get out!" Ash called desperately, but it was too late. Staryu collided headlong with Chikorita, knocking her back into the ice wall. She collapsed._

_"Haha! Well done Staryu!" Misty hugged the Starfish Pokemon happily._

_Ash cradled his fallen Chikorita, "It's Ok, Chikorita, you did great. Return." Chikorita was encased in a red glow, and she disappeared._

_"Hey!" Ash stormed over to Misty._

_"Yeah, Ash?" Misty looked up at him, her happiness shining in her eyes._

_"You cheated!"_

_The happy look disappeared, to be replaced by one of confusion, "Wha--?"_

_"Staryu can't use Tri Attack, or Ice Beam!"_

_"Well, mine can!" Misty stood up to her full height, which wasn't all that intimidating to Ash, as he was now about the same size as her._

_"Get over it Ash! You lost, because you don't appreciate my skills, and you underestimate me! That's why you lost, not because I cheated!"_

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~:

END FLASHBACK

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~:

The argument hadn't continued for long. It ended with Misty taking her bag, returning Staryu, grabbing Togepi, and storming off.

Now, Brock was stuck making dinner for **two**. It didn't look like Misty was gonna be back for a while, if at all… Pikachu wandered over to him and looked up at him questioningly.

"Right, I've had enough!" Brock growled to himself.

"~Is that because you really have had enough…~" Pikachu flicked his tail, "~Or because you **just** run out of aspirin~" The electric mouse shook the plastic bottle lying beside Brock's feet.

Brock grabbed the bottle and threw it in his backpack. "I don't know what you just said Pikachu, but I better get more aspirin soon or those two better kiss and make-up soon, or I'm gonna go crazy."

"~Yeah… **Kiss** and make-up… Those two would rather kiss Gyarados…~"

Brock understood most of that…

"You really believe that?!" He shook his head. "Professor Oak was right with that 'Pokemon takes after Trainer' thing. You're getting as dense as Ash is…"

"~That is mighty close to a Thunderbolt…~" Pikachu snarled as small sparks began to fly from his cheeks.

"Ok, Ok, calm down, calm down!" Brock stuttered in a panic.

"~Hmph…~" Pikachu snorted. He would **never** be as dense as Ash…

"I mean, those two don't hate each other as much as they make out… Of course they wouldn't kiss… That would be **bad**…" Brock shook his head.

"~Tha-at's right.~" Pikachu agreed, flicking his head cutely.

"I mean, how embarrassing would it be for me if **Ash** got his first kiss **before me**?!" Brock cried.

"~Ho Boy…~" Pikachu muttered. "~I'm going to go see Ash…~" He glanced at the hat haired teen, "~Before he **destroys** that poor Pokedex…~" Little did Pikachu know Ash had simply been flipping between Staryu's information, and a list of possible attacks it could learn. Sure enough, there they were – Ice Beam and Tri Attack… Of course, there was no way he could **ever** admit that to Misty.

:~~~~~~~~~~:

Misty had given up the game of Tag, leaving Staryu, Poliwhirl and Goldeen to play Piggy in the Middle with a tennis ball, while she lay on the ground on her stomach, dressed only in a small towel, playing Solitaire with a set of Dog-Eared cards that had belonged to her oldest sister, Daisy, while Psyduck and Togepi watched.

The nerve of that… That… **Boy**!!

The cards lay untouched for a few moments as she silently fumed, again, about Ash and the battle from earlier that day…

:~~~~~~~~~~:

Giovanni marched along another corridor in the main base on Black Island.

Ok, so he hadn't told any of the doctors he was coming, but that was the best way to catch them doing what they did when he wasn't around. Sneaky? Yeah, but it gets you through the day…

Giovanni walked back into the Lab. It was bustling with activity. Grunts sat at the beds, being seen to by doctors and nurses. A nurse walked slowly and carefully to Giovanni.

"Yes, sir…? What is it you need? I could get the doctor…" She spoke hesitantly.

"No need. I'm here to find out the state of the experiments." He snapped briskly.

"Oh… The serums are being tested on the Grunts as we speak. There have been…"

A siren screamed, and the nurse raced to a bed, where a female Grunt with long blue hair thrashed wildly. She was turning a sickly green colour, and strange vine-like appendages were popping up all over her body. As orderlies tried to hold her down, a nurse took readings from a display while a doctor took samples from the thrashing Grunt.

"**Report**!" Giovanni barked quickly. A nurse moved over, out of breath.

"This woman was injected with the serum containing Grass Pokemon genes. We're still trying to find out what's going on…" The nurse rushed back to the woman, who had by now stopped moving, and lay limp on the bed.

"Her heart is stopping! She's not responding!"

The doctor sighed. "Give her 30mls of cyanide, and record time of death. Ugh, I thought we had it this time…"

"30mls cyanide." The deadly poison was injected into the woman's bloodstream.

"She's… She's not responding to it! It's not affecting her at all…!" A nurse cried.

The doctor thought for a minute.

"Grass Pokemon are immune to cyanide." He spoke quietly.

"Then… Could it be working?"

He ran to the bed. "Increase the dose of serum!"

The three nurses quietened and gazed at him.

"O…K…" A male nurse grabbed another hypo and jabbed it in the Grunt's neck.

She screamed, a bloodcurdling scream, and her skin began to lose its green hue. Instead, vines wrapped themselves round her wrists, trailing from her wrists to her elbows, and her blue eyes, now open and rolled back into her head, were changing colour to an emerald green. Finally, the horrible screaming stopped, and she fell unconscious.

"Well?"

"She… She's stable." A nurse gasped.

Giovanni marched over. "Does this mean the experiment was successful?"

"I think it does sir!" The doctor beamed. "The woman should regain consciousness in about three hours. Why don't you come back then to talk to her?"

"Oh… I'll be here." Giovanni smiled, a small, sinister smile, and left the room.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~:

"But…"

"No buts! You will be at the island in two days – I'm giving you that time to actually do something **useful** with the time you have in those uniforms, and if I don't see results, **fast**, things will be **so** much worse for you!" The Boss roared at Jessie, James and Meowth, and cut the comm. Link.

"Me-Owth! Now whadda we do?"

"I've got an idea!" Jemes cried.

"Aloit the media…"

"Shut up Meowth. We can capture Pikachu!"

"Where've you **been** for four years, James?! We **haven't** **ever** succeeded in getting that fluff ball, and that's why we're **here**!!" Jessie smacked him over the head with a fan again for good measure…

"No! If we get Pikachu, the Boss might reconsider! And we don't have to get tested on!" James was pleased with his little plan.

"That might work! What we need is a plan so devious, so **evil**, that the Boss himself'll be jealous." Jessie purred.

"What ya got, Jess?" Meowth jumped up onto James' head to hear this marvellous plan.

"Nothing. I just know that's what we need."

James and Meowth facefaulted.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~:

Oh, God, I give up, 2000-odd words is good enough for me… It's August now, and it was May when I started the damn thing… ^_^; Writer's Block? You don't know the half of it! J


	2. Determination:

Disclaimer: Nyeeehh!!

Notes/Shoutouts/Dedications: Shout outs to The Nameless Reviewer and TeamRocket251!! (Thankies for the admiration, guys, and the great IM conv. And e-mail from TR251!!!)

Note to Alex Warlorn --- Team Rocket (Or Rocketto Dan for that matter), as portrayed in the anime, haven't any kind of reputation for killing **anything** – the horrible reputation they have on the Internet is pure fanon – I'm trying to keep as close to the anime as I can without destroying my story line. And patience! You'll find out what TR1 and the twerps have got to do with anything soon!!

**Part 2 of**

Serum 

Three Hours After the Events of Chapter 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giovanni arrived back in the lab. The head doctor met him.

"Here is the girl's profile. Her name is Trixie DeCart and she comes from Saffron City."

Giovanni allowed a slight nod in acknowledgment and continued to the girl's bed. She was sitting up now, gazing at him with bright green eyes. Odd, her profile stated her eyes were grey.

As he looked her over, he discovered that even her skin was tinged green. Vines trailed from her wrists to her elbows and a strange looking vine had wrapped round her neck, ivy-like leaves trailing from it down her body, past the neckline of the hospital gown she wore. She looked almost like the legendary Celebii, if Celebii was a bit taller and properly humanoid, of course. He idly wondered if she could speak to Grass Pokemon too.

He finally snapped back to reality when the green eyed gaze turned slightly condescending.

"You gonna stare **all** day?!" DeCart snapped.

He narrowed his eyes. "I came to talk to you, Miss DeCart."

"Well, don't take all day about it."

Giovanni suppressed a sharp remark. She might just refuse to co-operate if he got smart with her. Forcing himself to be polite, he started up a conversation. It may take a while to get this one to talk at all…

:~~~~~~~~~~~~:

Jessie and James crawled on their stomachs in the undergrowth, parallel to the Twerps. Meowth didn't have to. He simply sat on James' back. As the Twerp trio stopped to rest and check the map again, Jessie turned her head to look at James.

"Have you noticed? The two brats aren't talking!"

"F'get not talking, Jess, dey're not even **looking** at each udder…"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking James?"

"I was thinking about a snack…"

Jessie rolled her eyes at him. Meowth simply stomped on his head.

"I'm thinking that without those two working together, they'll not be so tough! You know, Divided We Stand, United we Fall… We can use Victreebell to knock them out, then head straight to the submarine before they can wake up and follow!" As James and Meowth listen to the plan, their eyes grew wider, and their smiles grew larger.

"That's a great idea, Jess!" Meowth jumped down from James' head to listen to Jessie's animated rendition (complete with hand gestures) on how they would go about it…

Giovanni stomped out of the lab, not even looking to see if the doctor caught the profile he threw, or if he heard the command, "**YOU **talk to her!"

That girl was impossible!

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"Oh, no…" Brock sighed.

"HEY! To protect the world from devastation…"

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of **Truth**, and **Love**!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

Drastic pose.

"Jessie!"

Cue the rose.

"James…"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight, fight, fight!"

"WOBBU…"

BANG! Wobbuffet flew into the distance. Meowth shook his fist, turned, struck a pose, and…

"Me-owth! That's ri-ight!"

"Team Rocket." Misty acknowledged.

"What do you want?!" Ash snapped.

"What do we always want?" Jessie smiled carnivorously.

"World domination…"

James threw his rose, so it stood upright in the earth in front of Ash.

"A promotion…"

Meowth hopped up so he stood on Jessie and James' shoulders.

"And yer Pikachu, so hand it over!"

"I'm not giving you Pikachu!" Ash cried.

"Hm… Too bad… Now we'll just have to take it, won't we, James?" Jessie purred.

"What's **with** you guys?!" Misty asked curiously, "You're actin' even loopier than usual…"

"Well, twerps, we won't be seeing you around anymore. We've been called back to Black Island to test this new serum thingy…" James began.

"**JAMES!!** Why are you telling them all our plans?!" Jessie punctuated this with a smack to the head and James flinched.

"The point is, twerps, we want your Pikachu. It's a little parting gift, from you, to us. Then we can give it to our Boss!" She paused, and then muttered "And maybe he'll reconsider that dumb serum testing…"

"What serum?" Brock asked curiously. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Hmph… You wouldn't understand the complex operations of Team Rocket!" Jessie scoffed at them. She pulled a nail file from God-Knows-Where and began to file her long nails… To a point.

"Uh-huh. Yeah." Misty said, adjusting a suspender, "So, now what? You gonna try and take Pikachu now?"

"Oh, yeah, we forgot…" James tittered, "Weezing, go!"

"Arbok, go!" Jessie cried.

"Chikorita, I choose you!"

"Poliwhirl, I choose you!"

"Arbok, Poison Sting attack!"

The massive Cobra opened her mouth, spraying tiny poisonous needles toward Poliwhirl.

"Dodge it Poliwhirl!"

Poliwhirl flipped over the poison needles.

"Now, Bubble!"

Poliwhirl held out its fists, and bubbles shot from them. Arbok ducked, and the bubbles narrowly dodged her head.

Five minutes Later…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pikachu and Bulbasaur, Onix and Golbat and Poliwhirl and Staryu all lay scattered around the clearing, unconscious.

Victreebell was out, and she, as usual, wasn't happy. How would she handle this anger? By biting James. Natch. And how would Jessie respond? By hitting James for not training her (Victreebell, not Jessie…). Double Natch.

Finally shaking off the oversized Fly-Trap, James pointed at the Twerps.

"Remember the combination I taught you earlier. Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, **Now**!"

Victreebell threw her 'Master' a filthy look, but complied, a cloud of blue, sparkly Sleep Powder rose from her mouth, drifting lazily toward the three teenagers, followed by the yellow Stun Spore, drifting slower, and at a lower altitude.

Before they could react, the Sleep Powder was on top of them. As they drifted off, a gust of wind blew all the Powder away, and the Stun Spore moved to the side.

Misty however, was downwind from both gases, and she breathed in a large dose of each. She coughed violently, before collapsing heavily in to a ditch at the very edge of the clearing. Pikachu and Togepi were also sound asleep by this time.

Jessie waited until both powders were gone with the wind before grabbing Pikachu from Ash.

"Why don't we take Togepi, too? Less chance of the Boss being mad at us…" She knelt beside the curled up egg Pokemon as she spoke.

"Remember what happened last time…" Meowth muttered.

Ignoring him, Jessie picked up the egg, and three sprinted back to their submarine.

Hours Later

Ash felt consciousness returning to him. For a few seconds, he just lay there, still groggy from the five hour sleep.

Finally, as he reached for Pikachu, he noticed the absence of his friend, and all sleepiness was forced from him, replaced by panic.

He forced himself to sit up, and looked around with bleary eyes. He was in another clearing of that darn forest they couldn't get out of. Brock lay splayed out on the ground behind him, while on his left lay…

"Misty!" Forgetting all about their argument, he forced himself to his hands and knees and crawled over to where she lay, curled up in a shallow ditch at the edge of the clearing, right next to her fainted Poliwhirl. Togepi was gone too!

"Misty, please wake up…" Ash shook her gently. A groan off to his right distracted him. It was Brock waking up.

"Oh, God… What happened…?" He rubbed his head with the palm of his hand.

"Team Rocket. They've taken Pikachu and Togepi!" Ash began to desperately shake Misty to wake her up. She moaned slightly in her sleep.

"Oh, no… She must have been hit by the Stun Spore Victreebell gave out with the Sleep Powder…" Ash realised, a sickening feeling unravelling in the pit of his stomach.

"I think I've got a treatment for Stun Spore induced paralysis here…" Brock pulled himself to a sitting position, and unclasped his backpack. He found a bottle of clear liquid, and crawled over, handing it to Ash.

Ash took the bottle, and gently opened Misty's mouth, pouring it in small portions into her mouth.

The antidote, although it was designed for use on Pokemon, was fast acting on humans as well.

In about a minute, Misty groaned and rolled over to face Ash.

She moaned, "Ash? What's… Going on? I feel horrible…" She raised a hand with effort and massaged her forehead gingerly.

"Team Rocket got Pikachu and Togepi. Are you Ok? We need to find them!" Ash exclaimed desperately.

Misty forced her way up, "Togepi?! We have to find them!"

She pulled herself up, but fell back uselessly. Ash grasped her shoulders and helped her up. Brock tended to Poliwhirl, while Ash helped Misty to her feet.

Brock returned Poliwhirl for Misty and put his Pokeball back into her red backpack. He approached Ash and Misty.

"Well, Misty, Poliwhirl's fine, just fainted. I removed the effects of the Sleep Powder with a Mint Berry I found in my pocket…"

"Thank you, Brock." Misty smiled weakly.

"We need to get to town, treat Misty and find Pikachu and Togepi!" Ash exclaimed, almost oozing determination.

The trio left, slowly moving their way toward the next town, Navana Town…

Giovanni sat at his main desk, in a large room, filled with beautiful, priceless sculptures, paintings and palm-sized models of mythical Pokemon, Gods, Demons, and other mythological beings. Being the owner of a terrorist group, along with various legit companies, including the world-renowned NeonStar, a Trainer gadget making/inventing company (Responsible for the creation of the Pokegear) certainly had its perks. The communications port built into the desk buzzed into life.

"Uhhh… Sir?" The doctor in charge of the serum testing.

"What?" He snapped down the small machine.

"We've done a full new profile on DeCart…"

"And…?"

"The Grass serum appears to have changed her brain completely. She speaks of memories that we **know** never happened, and things like growing up on a farm, although her hay fever is so bad she would have died on a farm. The Serum has altered her memories to make her suit her new DNA."

Meanwhile…

A large Tentacruel glided through the water. On the surface, this looked perfectly normal, but if you looked closer, you would notice that, unlike most Tentacuel, **this** one wan't using its large, venomous tentacles to propel itself through the murky Lake Tohjo, but rather, two propellers, disguised as natural growths on the dumbbell shaped core of the Jellyfish Pokemon's large body mass. If you were to take a look inside, you would see Jessie, on a three-man exercise bike connected to these propellers…

"Get in here, James!" Jessie yelled. "Up front! We're almost at Black Island!"

James climbed up into the main room through a rusty ladder. "I thought you were in the engine room, helping Meowth with repairs…"

"I got bored. So sue me." Jessie threw a chocolate biscuit from the pack beside her at him. "Here."

"Thanks. So, how far away are we from being guinea pigs…"

"Two miles exactly…" Jessie grumbled. She lifted the super re-enforced glass shockproof tank Pikachu and Togepi were in; sound asleep from exhaustion (Pikachu had been blasting at the glass all day, and Togepi was worn out from the excitement) and gazed at them thoughtfully.

"I almost feel sorry for those two." James spoke sympathetically.

"Yeah, but we won't get tested on!" Jessie exclaimed, "So, it's worth it…"

"Right?" The two spoke at the same time.

It was morning. Ash and Brock, each lending an arm to prop up poor Misty, had arrived the previous night. Nurse Joy, refusing to hear their pleas to let them phone Professor Oak – and Brock's half-hearted plea for a date, for that matter – had sent the three to bed, shocked at the state they were in. Unfortunately, none of the three had gotten much sleep, and Misty had obviously been crying the night before. Now, the three were explaining their plight to the sympathetic Prof. Oak.

"So what should we do, Professor Oak?" Ash felt as bad as he sounded, Professor Oak felt very sorry for him.

"I could trace your Pokemon using their microchips, but the tracing technology is still in it's early stages, and might not work very well, and if Team Rocket have found the microchips… Well, there's no way to find them." Professor didn't wait for an answer as he reached to a console near him, activating the Tracer.

Tracey burst into the Lab a minute later, looking blackened, his hair almost standing on end.

"Professor! I was working on the quirks in the Tracer when you turned it on! What do you need it for, any… Oh, hey Ash, Misty, Brock!" He shook off the ratchet, and various other metal components sticking to him, and reached the viewer.

"What's up you guys, you look terrible!" He exclaimed in surprise.

He was right. Their clothes were dishevelled, their hair messy, Misty had the remains of tears on her cheeks, and the absence of Pikachu and Togepi told him exactly why…

"Team Rocket…" Tracey muttered.

"Well, here goes." The Professor hit some buttons, activating the Tracer. It searched for the two signals…

"Here! They're near Black Island, near the Tohjo Falls on Lake Tohjo. That's rumoured to be Team Rocket's main hideout. That's where their Boss stays when the Indigo League's not running." Professor Oak finished, worriedly.

"Well, that's where we have to go…" Ash growled, "They're not keepin' **my** Pikachu!"

"Or my Togepi…" Misty snarled.

"So Black Island, here we come!" The two finished together, a look of raw determination flitting across their features.****

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~:

I was really expecting this to go on further, but it seemed good to end it here…


	3. Spies:

Oh, man… I can't get over how long this has taken! I've just been soooo busy lately! My English Writing Pre-Lim was today, and, although the story I used was a bit too Battle Angel Alita to use in any of my fics, it gave me a bit of inspiration, so, here we are!

By the way – Alex? Good point. I used a farm because I don't think many people can imagine living in an arboretum full-time – most people just associate plants with farms. That actually is my way of saying that I hadn't thought of an arboretum. ^^;

**Disclaimer:** Zarrah is not in any way associated with Pokemon, 4Kids Entertainment or Satoshi Tajiri, but, once the patent comes through for the serum, they'll be **right** where I want them… Hehehe…

**Serum: Part Three**

_By :~Zarrah~:_

The head doctor was poring over the weekly reports. Trixie DeCart was getting on well – after a few more eye colour changes, after which they had managed to stay emerald green, her powers had begun to assert themselves – she was now fully capable of a Vine Whip attack from her arms, a Leer, and Sweet Scent, and she could pull off a couple of Razor Leaves at a time – she was getting stronger almost all the time, as well.

There had also been something noted about her mind. She now fully believed she was a person completely different from her profile – she had lived on a farm (she'd lived in suburban Celadon City) loved hay (she was supposed to have Hay Fever) and there were various others that just had nothing to do with her city upbringing. The serum was obviously more powerful than it was believed.

Maybe Team Rocket shouldn't have been meddling in such powerful things…

His mind shook that off. Another report said that there were six examples of the Serum finished and being properly used now – 

Fire

Grass

Bug

Flying

Ground

Psychic

Dragon

The rest – Ice, Water, Dark, Rock, Steel and Electricity were still in the late stages of testing. The Ditto serum, the final and most powerful one, was in basic testing stages, having reduced its subjects to gooey mush in past tests. Not a pleasant thing.

The final report noted a shortage in Rocket Grunts for the rest of the testing. The doctor sighed. If more Grunts didn't sign up, they'd be forced to pluck trainers off the streets. While Giovanni would relish that notion, the doctor himself was a more humane man, and he didn't want it to come to that.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:

That morning, there was to be a meeting of the Police, the Pokemon League Officials and the local councillors of each sector of the country – it was about the only thing that called for such a meeting. Team Rocket.

Each councillor (a representative of the sectors – Johto, Kanto and the Orange Archipelago) had its concerns about the organisation. Not that anybody was complaining, but there had been next to no Pokemon thefts lately. Little things, like robbing Rookies in the forest had been going on, but even they seemed opportunistic – like the Rookie Pokemon were there for the picking… In Team Rocket's case, the silence could only mean trouble.

"We should be happy about this!" An Officer Jenny argued. "Team Rocket are leaving us alone for a while, and all we're doing is complaining! We should just be working out a way to completely stop the attacks!"

"That may be true, but we all know what Team Rocket are like…" Johto's representative said sadly, "There have been no decreases in the number of ships seen, or Grunts spotted, just an almost complete stoppage of attacks. We would go after the ships and grunts, but most are seen by civilians, and by the time the police arrive on the scene, they're long gone."

A League Official spoke up, "Does anyone have any idea about what to do about this?"

A scattering of murmurs told him no.

Suddenly, Kanto's representative spoke up. "Spies. We should send in spies to check up on them. And it would have to be at least two people, disguised as Grunts – who have to be around the ages of ten to fifteen, which is the average Grunt age."

"Yeah, but who?" Another League representative asked.

"I have an idea…" The Viridian City Jenny, who had spoken earlier, said quietly.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:

The morning dawned bright – the Pidgey were singing, the sun was shining, and a lot of early morning trainers had got out their Pokemon to enjoy the early morning sunlight. They capered around their trainers, licking hands, and crying out in their own languages happily.

Three trainers didn't feel like celebrating, however. Ash Ketchum and his friends, Misty and Brock, hadn't had a good night. That morning, they had to tell their other Pokemon about the situation, and, while Chikorita didn't seem as overly upset as she really should have, there had been a lot of distressed crying, and Ash's Bulbasaur had finally crawled onto his lap to get some comfort – something so rare for the usually proud Pokemon that it made Ash cherish the moment even more, and he hugged the Grass Pokemon close to him, as if he could somehow pull the strength from it to make himself feel better.

After a short while, Bulbasaur yelled something that neither Brock or Misty understood, but Ash certainly did, judging from the way he loosened his grip, allowing Bulbasaur to jump from his arms, and from his subdued, raspy,

"Sorry, Bulbasaur –"

Nurse Joy approached the group, a look of polite sympathy on her face. She was quite used to seeing this kind of thing, and while the compassion for both trainer and Pokemon was still there, she had learned not to commit herself too closely to it – it just wouldn't help anybody.

"Ash Ketchum?"

Three sets of anguished eyes focussed on her, and the hope radiating from them made her heart ache.

"There's a phone call for you, from Pallet Town." The youngest boy, who she presumed to be Ash, jumped up and sprinted for the nearest phone, followed very closely by the other two trainers and the five Pokemon not in their Pokeballs.

Ash got to the phone before anybody else and pulled the receiver from its slot with one shaking hand. The vid screen flickered and revealed Professor Oak's kindly face. He looked worried and drawn, and was seemingly dreading whatever he was about to say.

Ash didn't notice any of this, however, and instead was focussed on the remote possibility that Professor Oak had come through, as he **always** had before, and his Pikachu was there at the lab, alive and well.

"Hello, Ash – er, how are you?" Ash was too miserable to even be annoyed at the oblivious question, and instead babbled,

"When do we leave for Black Island?" Professor Oak looked away, and sighed heavily.

"The island – Black Island, is only reachable by submarine or airship—"

"Then we get a submarine – easy… Right?" Ash looked so pathetically hopeful it was both heart warming and painful at the same time. Oak sighed again.

"Well, we – that is, the League – have a favour to ask. We believe that this island is the locale of Team Rocket's secret HQ, and that if we send in spies, we can sabotage the base from the inside out. It will have to be children, though, for authenticity… Children your age." Ash's brown eyes widened, and Oak could almost feel the explosion working up inside him, until it came out with a shrilled,

"Team Rocket?! No way – no, no, **No**! Professor!" Misty and Brock looked suitably horrified, and Ash looked furious! His eyes were smouldering hotly, and his fists were clenched and shaking.

"H-how can you ask Ash to do this, Professor? They've just stolen his first Pokemon, and you want him to work for them?" Brock, ever the diplomatic one, tried to reason with him. It was useless. As much as he disagreed with their methods, Oak did think that there was something gravely wrong, and besides, this might just work out in Ash's favour.

"Ash, my boy, I know you're… not in favour of this arrangement,"

_*Understatement of the century*_

"but this might just be what we need. You might be able to get in and get your Pikachu back from them, and find out what they're doing at the same time. There **are** three of you, after all – you don't all have to do the same thing.

Think of how many Pokemon you'll be saving by doing this. Think of your role as the Chosen One."

Ash's face fell, and Oak knew he would agree. And Misty and Brock would, too.

"O-Okay, Professor. I don't like it, but I'll do it for the Pokemon. Er – I don't want to take my Pokemon in there…"

"You won't have to – I have three Pokemon for each of you here that I'll transport to you as soon as possible. Now, if you want to send all of your Pokemon now…"

Ash, looking paler, and more drawn than Oak thought he'd ever seen him, unclipped his Pokeballs from his belt, one by one, and put them onto the machine, gazing at each one like it was a lifeline he was being forced to give up. Misty was slowly reaching around in her bag for her own Pokeballs, her eyes shining, and Brock was taking his from his vest pockets, the grim look never leaving his face.

Finally, when all of their Pokeballs were in separate piles of red and white, among others, on the transport pad, Professor Oak initiated transport. The three piles of varying sizes on the pad were replaced with a sizzling white zap, and three piles of three red and white spheres, each single globe a glaring reminder of Ash's torment.

First, Team Rocket stole Pikachu, and now, in a roundabout way, they had taken all of his other Pokemon, too.

Well, no more. The grief in his heart began to fade, and instead, Ash began to feel something unfolding in his gut that he'd never felt so wholly before – hate. Hate for Team Rocket, for Jess, James, Meowth, their Boss and every little Grunt who had ever picked up a black Rocketball. In his mind's eye, he could see them all consumed in ebony flames of hate, burning, burning…

"Ash? Ash?" Misty. Her slender hand shook his shoulder gently and he forced himself away from the black. Professor Oak met his eyes, as if waiting for approval, and Ash gave it, nodding slightly and giving a watery grin. Oak gave a sympathetic smile and glanced to a computer terminal beside the monitor.

"You need to be in Saffron City as soon as you can get there. I can pay for the transport, if you'd like…"

"No – I'd—I'd rather walk, thanks Professor."

Oak nodded. "And you need to be in the Saffron City underground Marketplace. I'll give you directions when you reach Saffron Pokemon Centre, OK?"

Ash, Brock and Misty nodded. "Right, we'll be there." Brock affirmed.

"Good luck, kids." The professor smiled again, and the phone blacked out. Ash turned on the chair to gaze at Misty and Brock. They looked worried, Misty especially, but above all else, determined. To find Team Rocket, and to find their friends.

For the first time in ages, Ash felt the beginnings of a smile. Oh, yeah – Team Rocket wouldn't know what hit them.

:~*~*~:

Oh, man – it's April now – I started this in December! God, I'm soooo lazy!! I'll try to get more out faster! ^^


	4. Blood:

OK, so I'm going to be honest now. I really have no interest in the anime version of Pokèmon anymore. So, I'm very sorry if I make mistakes with the writing of this fic – I did try to do some catching up with it, but Pokèmon isn't showing that often in Britain anymore, and the first three series aren't showing at all, as far as I know.

Thanks for the reviews; I'll try to get on with it, but as of now, I'm not adverse to any writing help any Pokèmon fans want to give me on this one, as my chances of ever finishing this without any are slim.

Note: Only Pokèmon 1-251 (not even all of those) will be in this fanfic; I don't know anything about the rest and none of them are in Johto at this point in time anyway.

**Disclaimer**: Pokèmon: The Anime belongs to 4Kids Entertainment, Nintendo and anyone else who claims rights to it – this plotline is the only one I own.

**Serum** – Part 4

_By :~Zarrah~:_

Trixie DeCart stood on Victory Road – about half a mile from the Indigo Plateau, but very far away from the Team Rocket base, and safety. She was here because Giovanni wanted her to train, and of course, what Giovanni wanted was top priority for all Rockets.

Inside the cave, there wasn't enough sunlight for her to use her newly developed 'Morning Sun' technique – which was really her only way of healing or defending herself.

There were no Rocket Guards in sight – most of them were being tested on and the ones not being tested on were too afraid of the powerful wild and trained Pokèmon that populated the area. She was all alone.

Except, of course, for the wild one coming up behind her – she managed to roll out of the way of the enraged Rhydon performing 'Horn Drill' in her direction just in the nick of time. Thankfully, the move was so inaccurate, even **she** managed to escape it; no matter how powerful her Pokèmon abilities got, for now she had the speed of a human.

That wasn't a good thing.

Rhydon are predators, she thought to herself. It was probably hungry, and she was obviously the only non-Rock type Pokèmon in the area. In other words, she was the only thing edible. Oh, crap.

Crouching, she mentally flipped through her current list of attacks. 'Vine Whip'. 'Leer'. 'Razor Leaf' – but she wasn't all too good at that one yet. 'Morning Sun' – useless here. 'Sweet Scent' – yeah, like that would do her any good.

Rhydon turned to face her, growling in its native tongue – she didn't understand it, which was rather strange, considering she could understand most Grass Pokèmon – of course, she hadn't been too interested in studying the fine details, and wasn't to know that many Pokèmon not of the same elemental type don't understand the others' languages unless used to them.

The starving wild Pokèmon began a 'Rock Throw', reaching down to grab the biggest boulder it could lift and toss at her. Her chest constricted in fear, and adrenaline oozed through her veins, making her strangely cold. Maybe coming here had been a **bad** idea…

With a single-minded roar of "**Rhyyy!**", the Rock Pokèmon threw the boulder at her – panicking, she shot a 'Razor Leaf' at the rock from the vines on her wrists; where a fully evolved Grass Pokèmon such as Venusaur could have shattered the rock into powder with the attack, her weak leaves only managed to break it into shrapnel-like chips of rock that sliced through her still outstretched arms, creating cuts that ran with blood of a nameless colour. She squeaked, shocked more than anything else. A strangely bitter scent filled the air, noxious to her enhanced senses.

The Rhydon snorted, ready to try again with another attack. Trixie debated running, but the only place to run right now, what with the Rhydon blocking the way she'd came, would be the Indigo Plateau – and quite frankly, she preferred the Rhydon.

She looked at it closely again; it was beginning a 'Rock Slide'. Oh, no. Not thinking, she tried simultaneously 'Leering' at the creature and striking it with 'Vine Whip', but the damage was already done; boulders of all shapes and sizes began tumbling at her from every direction, striking her torso and limbs, bruising them badly.

She screamed in pain, but the scream was cut off as a small rock flew right into her mouth; she spat it out, now getting angry.

She was Trixie DeCart – she had the intelligence of a human and the power of a Pokèmon, and some wild Pokèmon with rocks for brains was **not** going to do anything to **her**!

Lucky Trixie – the Rhydon's last attack had both made it need to stop for breath, and had broken a hole in the roof of the cave – not big enough to cause a cave-in, but large enough that a beam of sunlight was now inside the cave, bathing the grey floor in yellow.

If Trixie had been as intelligent as she thought herself, she would have used 'Morning Sun', healed her wounds and left before the Rhydon caught its breath. But, no.

Running into the beam of light, she began to charge for something she'd never tried – hadn't been going to try – until now. 'Solar Beam'. The most powerful of the Grass type moves – sure to knock the Rhydon out, giving her both experience and power; Giovanni was going to be impressed with her.

The feeling of the sun warmed her, easing her bruises somewhat and giving her the power to do what she needed to do – a ball of energy formed at her midriff, growing in size until she thrust out her arms toward the Rhydon and screamed wordlessly.

Unable to control the power she'd created, all she could do was will it to go in the direction she wanted it to go. It wasn't that easy, as any genuine Grass Pokèmon would be happy to tell her.

The energy ball exploded, hitting her hard – she flew back with a glass-shattering screech, hitting the wall with a crack and sliding down it, leaving a trail of liquid that was dark on the sunless rock wall. The solar energy, now having nowhere to go and hanging dormant in the air, danced across, making it gleam in rainbow colours.

::

By the time Pokèmon officials, having heard the screams, managed to find the scene, all they found was what looked like a puddle of oil on the ground and rock face, and a trail of it leading off into the darkness of Victory Road – there was one Rhydon out there that afternoon that would be well fed.

:~*~*~:

"Welcome to the Goldenrod City Pokèmon Centre!" the undistinguishable Joy chirped, looking, like all the other Joys, both perky and happy, without a care in the world.

Pity Misty wasn't feeling that way right about now. She kept reaching back into her backpack for Togepi, looking down the road to see how far behind it was, opening her mouth to tell the guys it had ran off again… before remembering that Togepi had been Poke-napped by Team Rocket.

And whenever she had to tell herself that again, her chest and throat tightened with emotion and she had to pinch herself hard to keep from crying. She was trying her hardest to keep her mind off that, now.

Feigning a smile, trying to look as cheerful as Nurse Joy, she handed over her Pokèballs and said "Could you take care of my Pokèmon?", in as upbeat a voice as she could. Anything she could have or would have said afterward was cut off by Brock dashing forward, grabbing Joy's hands and beginning his daily hormone-induced flirting session.

It always annoyed her when Brock jumped after anything with a skirt on – at first, she'd been telling herself that it was because he was embarrassing the lot of them, and that Ash had enough of a success doing that. Then she'd been afraid it was because she was jealous of Brock paying attention to them and not her.

Then she'd dismissed that whole idea as ludicrous. Now she just took the whole thing at face value. Brock did it, it annoyed her, end of story. It was like Ash's clumsiness – a bad habit that needed to be stomped out, literally.

Either way, this time was quite a lot worse for her, in that the knowledge that Brock wouldn't be doing this if it were his Vulpix in the hands of Team Rocket was burning at the back of her mind.

And that was probably her motivation for beating him up with a well placed mallet instead of dragging him away by the earlobe as usual. She loved that mallet. Daisy had given it to her in a rare moment of sisterly-love, telling her that mallet-ing was the best defence against a guy who wasn't thinking with the right head.

Her oldest sister had then broken that moment by saying something along the lines of, 

"But what am I saying? No guy's ever going to be that interested in **you,** Misty!" 

She'd then dramatically sighed, and said "Sometimes it's tough, me being so beautiful."

Misty had to cross to a window at that moment to spit the bad taste out of her mouth.

Swigging at a bottle of water afterward, she sat down beside Ash, who was moping on the bench, waiting for Joy to finish with their Pokèmon. She'd been a little delayed by having to push some of Brock's joints back into place, but she was well on track now – Brock was busy carving the memory of Joy touching his limbs into his brain, and was sitting on the other side of Ash, occasionally giggling perversely and attracting strange looks from passing trainers.

Ash was looking- he was looking very determined. Misty knew the younger boy well enough to know that he was going through battle strategy for any upcoming battle with Team Rocket – she also knew him well enough to know that any plan he came up with would go straight out of the window as soon as there was a sniff of a battle; Ash would do something spontaneous and stupid, and most of the time, Lady Luck would smile upon him and it'd come off.

Sometimes it didn't. But that was OK – he always had Brock and Misty to back him up.

Misty just hoped that would happen this time, too.

Tonight, they'd be setting out their new clothes and identities – and first thing tomorrow morning they'd be going into the Underground Marketplace in the west – and straight into the Persian's den.

:~*~*~:

"Herbal remedies! Get your herbal remedies here!"

"Pokèmon haircuts! We can only do one a day!"

Brock glanced around nervously at the various merchants shouting at the three trainers. The old woman rattling on about Pokèmon remedies was stroking a Murkrow, which was in turn pushing its head into her touch, glaring in the direction of the three young people as if to dare them not to buy its owner's wares. 

The two boys advertising Pokèmon haircuts were waving scissors around – definitely not a good way to make business, Brock thought. There was a Togetic beside them that Misty was casting occasional glances at, then pointedly looking away again as if not allowing herself to think about her baby Pokèmon.

The Underground Marketplace was very… dark, for lack of a better word. The stone walls glistened with moisture, the sandy floor squished under their feet. The air had a musty, humid quality. This was obviously the dumping ground for those traders not good enough to find anywhere more comfortable to sell what they had to offer.

There were a few trainers hanging around, but Ash snubbed their challenges – one from a geeky-looking boy who had to keep pushing his glasses up, the other from a young man who obviously fancied himself as a bit of a psychic – and moved on, heading for the shady-looking man in black standing about halfway across the Marketplace, standing in a tiny alley, almost hidden. Team Rocket was rumoured to recruit young trainers here, but each time the police came to investigate complaints, there was nothing but a tiny alleyway. Part of the rock face had looked a bit suspicious, but they'd not been able to find anything to back up claims of an entrance to a secret lair, so had left.

Ash marched up to him and almost yelled, "Are you Team…"

The man clamped a gloved hand over the boy's mouth and gave him a dark-eyed glare.

"Keep it down, kid, you want the cops to hear ya?" he hissed. As soon as he was sure Ash had processed the message, he took his hand away.

Ash had gotten the message. "Are you Team Rocket?" he almost mumbled back, and this time, the man couldn't hear him. Brock spoke up, exasperated. At this rate, the man would suspect something.

"You're Team Rocket, right?" At the man's nod, he pressed on, "We're looking to join up."

The man nodded again and gave a toothy grin – his teeth were sparkling white. "OK, then, kids, we'll be happy to have you. Names?"

Brock had named himself after his father, "Flint."

Misty had given herself the only other water-oriented name she could think of at the time, "Luna."

Ash, unable to think of anything else, had named himself after the current Pokèmon Master, "Lance."

Team Rocket would be highly unlikely to check up on their names, Professor Oak had said the night before, so it didn't really matter what names they chose. Besides, so many trainers renamed themselves stupid and un-pronounceable names (he cited Rune Angelique and Avalonis Ligress as examples from his own trainer database) when they began their Pokèmon journeys that it was almost impossible to find out trainers' real identities even if somebody did get suspicious.

The man, who had come out of the shadows a little – they could see his dark robes now, covering what looked like a very skinny body – asked for their ages (there was really no point lying on that one), their towns of origin (They all named the same Johto City – Azalea) and which Pokèmon they had.

Misty had one of Ash's Tauros, Ash's Kingler and Tracey's Marill. Ash had another one of his Tauros, and a Charmeleon and a Houndour belonging to Professor Elm. Brock had a Hitmonchan and a Geodude belonging to Professor Oak and his Vulpix, which he'd refused to go anywhere without.

The nine Pokèmon's IDs had been scrambled, and they were able to give the names without fear of detection.

Finally, the Rocket agent nodded, and stepped out of the alleyway completely. He beckoned them toward the exit, a staircase not very far away.

"This way, please," he murmured, almost inaudibly. Ash, Misty and Brock followed in silence.

:~*~*~:

Jessie had been sitting on the same bed for the past half an hour – it had been about ten minutes since a doctor had come and made her drink a cup of red liquid that was probably the serum, and all it was doing was giving her a red hot feeling in her head that occasionally spread down to her stomach as if she had just drunk a cup of coffee – or eaten a Charmander.

It was making her slightly ill. At first she tried to slow her breathing, call a doctor – and ended up slapping a passing nurse and getting **him** to call the doctor. She tried to stop the retching feeling in her stomach, of bile rising to her throat, and the strange, yet familiar feeling of her stomach twitching convulsively. She was going to be sick.

Finally, it got to be too much, and just as a large silver bowl was shoved under her nose, she vomited what she at first thought was blood (images of her suing Team Rocket for as much as she could get flashed in her mind) but then realised was simply the stuff she'd been given, or some of it.

Being sick left her with a penetrating exhaustion and a feeling of dizziness that made her want to lie down, but at least the heat and sickness was gone. She lay back down and was almost instantly asleep.

Beside her, the nurse flipped through a clipboard until he reached Jessie's name – and put a frustrated tick beside the words _'Unsuccessful – Subject Rejected Serum'_.

::

Across the ward, the purple haired man called James had been injected with the Dark Serum, a murky purple liquid that shone like oil under the light. Doctor Andreas had been charged with watching this subject, as Dark Serum subjects had been known to combust under the pressures of the serum, and had to have a close eye kept on them. 

He wasn't really responding to the stuff at the moment. He had complained about the pain in his arm after the injection, in a voice that sounded almost feminine in tone, before settling down with _Pokè-Girl_ Magazine and reading almost religiously.

At least someone around here was happy. Most of the other Rockets in here definitely weren't. Many of the Grunts were having to watch each other die – either fatally rejecting the serum or becoming so violent after a dosage of it that trained Houndoom were sent in to kill them. Nobody had really bothered cleaning the place up after these exterminations, and so the ward smelt heavily of sweet, metallic blood and was dotted with dark red in random places.

There was an ear splitting scream somewhere across the ward – James dropped his magazine in fright; someone had been injected with the Electric Pokèmon serum, and static was crackling across the room already, sending some of the equipment haywire (James' pulse momentarily shot to 250BPM and then back to normal as the energy affected the machine analysing it) and the young man in question was thrashing on his bed, yelling and screaming in pain.

A few Executives, each leading a Houndoom, dashed in and stood by the bed, waiting with a sort of anticipation that reminded Dr. Andreas of scavenging Bird Pokèmon. The Houndoom – five of them – were sitting now at the bed, a couple glaring around, but most staring feverishly at the victim, slavering eagerly; the Dark Pokèmon were starved to maximise killing efficiency.

Andreas looked away, lips pursed, reminding himself of the massive bonus he had been promised to work with the serum. At this point, that was the only thing keeping him there. He was a doctor, a little voice in his head whispered, not an attendant in a torture chamber.

James, still watching the spectacle avidly, turned to the doctor, "I-is that going to happen to me?"

Andreas shrugged indifferently, and a flash of panic stormed across James' emerald eyes. An outside spectator would have found his next actions rather funny; he looked around him quickly, panic stricken, and upon seeing his target – the now stabilised Jessie – dashed out of bed and sprinted for her at top speed, occasionally giving the entire ward flashes of areas under the gown he was wearing. Thankfully for him, no one was really paying attention – but Andreas felt a twinge of embarrassment for him all the same.

He blinked. For a man in a hospital gown, James was sure moving fast. Almost as if he were used to wearing dresses… Nah.

He'd give him five minutes over there before dragging him back. Anyway, it would be about eight hours before he died-- err… before the Serum would begin to take effect – he had time.

:~*~*~:

And… end of chapter.

I would have left this until tomorrow – i.e. exactly a year after last updating, which would be kinda funny to me, but I won't, mostly because I'll forget by then, silly me.

Thanks to those who've reviewed so far, and especially to Alex Warlorn for bringing up points I need to think about.


End file.
